Hello and thanks for coming. Sorry I took an insanely long while to update. I didn't know what to do next, quite frankly. It's the feeling of not being good enough to handle Ban-chan, and not giving Ban a case he would actually want to take. So I focused on an RK fic for a while. Now I'm getting clueless about a coming chapter for that RK fic I fixed this chapter first. Times like this, you have to force yourself to finish a chapter.

As for the brown-tinted and wide glasses a few lines down, I'm visualizing those things that are rather popular right now. It looks cool when the likes of Gackt wear it, but I doubt its effects on a certain guy we know who wears small purple specs…………

………………………………………

"I'm the new guy," he introduced himself to the guard at the door.

"Name?" the guard looked down at a list on a clipboard.

"Oh, don't bother looking there, I was just hired, so I'm not on the list yet," he smirked at him.

"Give your name then," the guard told him.

"Erm, let's see…………Kanzaki………..Kanzaki Hiroto."

"Alright. Go in."

"Thanks, pal," Midou Ban went in with a whistle.

Should anyone bother to check the records, they would indeed find a Kanzaki Hiroto, newly hired as a janitor for the building. If anyone should check the security cameras, they would find a young man with hair tied in a very short ponytail, covered by the uniform's cap. He was rather tall, on the slender side, but his arms were tightly bound by muscle. His eyes were covered by a pair of brown-tinted and wide glasses, rimless and running around the face.

"You look ridiculous," his manager had said of the spectacles.

"Keeps the glare out," he explained. "I hate bright lights." And the building, for a Chinese corporation based in Japan, had a lot of bright lights.

"So get another job."

"I need this one."

Indeed he did. The building was the front for Chan Feilong's branch of the Hong Kong triads.

He pushed out a large cart, filled with a mop, a bucket, two brooms, many rags and cleaning bottles. He wheedled for the job of cleaning floors and windows. It was the best way to get into rooms. And from many, many cases and hard times, he had learned how to mop and wipe windows fast and well.

Still, his blonde partner was infinitely better at sweet-talking and negotiating – the human, no-money aspect of negotiating. And Ginji made the boring work hours pass by much faster, with his silly conversation. He was slowly, surely, regretting that he did not take the annoying sparker along.

With no other case on hand, he did his job as calmly and properly as possible, and quietly scanned all the floors and all the rooms. In crucial areas, he left a small receiver at inconspicuous places.

He eventually found the room where most of the organizational files were kept.

He whistled as he approached the security camera, and placed a ladder under it. He made the motions of cleaning the window beside it, then quickly clipped in a small device over the camera. He took out what looked like a handheld game, and checked the visuals transmitted from the camera. Satisfied, he pocketed his handheld again, finished cleaning the window, and went down.

He went to where the computers were placed in the same room. He took out the handheld console again, and pressed a few buttons. That made the security camera repeat recorded clips from the last five minutes, as Ban connected a camera where a good view of the monitor displays could be had.

He cursed the loss of a partner again. He did not have to go through that much stealth if Ginji was around, short circuiting devices for him. But, he remembered, he had to keep Ginji out of Chan's reach. Ginji did not have to die, just so he himself could find out what was behind a dubious offer to replace a White Tiger.

He took out a small music player, and stuffed in the earphones. He started to fiddle around with the controls, until he got a good reception from the receiver at Chan's office. He whistled as he mopped the cafeteria floor.

……………………………………

The door chime rang as the coffee shop door closed , and a long-haired slender young man entered. He waved to Paul and Natsumi, and patted his friend, seated at a bar stool with a mug before him. He then sat a few stools away and ordered coffee and a sandwich. He turned and looked at his friend. He had not moved.

"What? No big hug?" He scratched his head. "Something the matter, Ginji-san?"

"He and Ban had a big fight," Paul explained. "He hasn't been here since."

"Oh." He smiled to him. "Don't worry about it. He'll be here when he gets hungry."

"It's not that, Kadzuki," Ginji murmured. "It's not that."

Kadzuki leaned on the counter and readied himself for a serious conversation.

Ginji spoke softly, with a faraway look. "Ban-chan knows something that he doesn't want to tell me, about this case we got. And he doesn't want to get me involved. It tells me that, that thing he knows? It's BIG. I think, he thinks I'm going to get killed or something. If the dream I got means anything."

"Dream?"

Ginji briefly explained the situation, and the one-minute hallucination he received.

"So, what do you plan to do?"

"That's the trouble," Ginji grinned sheepishly. "I don't know." He sat up straight and puffed up his chest. "That's what I wanna find out." Then he slunk down, spread his arms over the counter, and sulked. "But I don't know how."

Kadzuki chuckled, and moved his coffee and sandwich closer to his friend. "And this used to be the Raitei, oh, dear…..," he teased. "You're hopeless without that hothead, aren't you?"

Ginji assumed his puppy-dog eyes and pout, and nodded.

"Tell you what, I'm not particularly busy right now, so why don't I help you find out what's bothering Ban, okay?"

"You will?" It was then that Ginji gave the expected big hug. "Thank you, thank you!"

Then an uneasy silence as Kadzuki squirmed free.

"So, now what?" Ginji asked with all-trusting eyes.

"Hmmmmm…………" the long-haired friend rubbed his chin, and looked around. His eyes fell on the man behind the counter, reading the newspaper. "Let's start with Paul tonight, then maybe we can talk to Hevn tomorrow."

"Wow, I never thought of that!" Ginji patted his friend on the shoulder.

"Oh, yes, and Natsumi, could you be sweet enough to keep a potful of coffee for us tonight? Before you go?" Kadzuki added.

"Sure thing," she said, and went to the kitchen.

Paul was listening to them, and had been eagerly waiting for the chance. He folded the newspaper and left it on the counter. He dove into the counter, and took out his laptop computer. "Keywords, please?" he nudged up his glasses and grinned.

" 'Midou Ban'?" Ginji hazarded. "Well, maybe somebody has been tracking him, and keeping records online?"

Paul agreed, and typed up his partner's name. He lined up a typical web search, and a deeper, hacker level search, simultaneously. Nothing substantial resulted from the web search, aside from weblog entries and news articles from happy customers of the GetBackers. But the deeper search was yielding results that were…………interesting.

"Now, THAT's the Ginji I know," Kadzuki smiled.

"Hey, Paul, can I go down to the basement? I'd like to check out those addresses that keep coming up," Ginji asked.

"Second shelf, that's what you want," Paul nodded.

The former Raitei re-appeared after half an hour, carrying phone books and hard copies of old files. He began to carefully browse through them, asking Paul or Kadzuki every ten minutes or so about a possible clue. The other two men combed through the databases and online data.

It was an hour past midnight when Paul closed the Honky Tonk. The three men had worked long and hard, and they had managed to get some new information, useful to helping Ban, without getting in his way. Ginji had asked permission to doze off for a few minutes at around 11pm, and lay down on a long seat. Kadzuki and Paul kept working at it until half past midnight, and let him sleep. "It's better that way," Paul told the young man with him. "He tossed and turned all of last night; he sparked the lock and went for a walk before the sun was up." Kadzuki thanked Paul for the assistance, and promised to return in the morning.

Paul was about to turn off the lights, when someone knocked behind the locked door. A weary young man with spiked hair and dark glasses. Paul opened the door for him, then walked behind the counter.

Ban nodded slightly to Paul before sitting at a bar stool. He kept silence, and looked at his friend, asleep in a disturbed way, huddled in one of the long seats. Paul gave him a hot cup of coffee in his white scribbled mug. Along with it, he gave a diskette, which Ban pocketed without question.

"He's asked Kadzuki's help," Paul told Ban. "He's been miserable, not knowing what to do, if anything."

"Worrywart, as always," he harrumphed, and sipped his coffee.

"Does he have anything to worry about, Ban?" Paul asked quietly.

Ban muttered, more to himself. "The problem is mine. I don't want him to get involved in something he shouldn't, just because he's my friend………." Then he stopped. "He'll understand someday."

He walked over to his friend, and deftly clipped a small object just inside his shirt. He then stood, gazed at him, and shook his head. He waved to Paul as he walked out, and opened the café door. "Thanks for the coffee. Take care of that dunderhead while I'm gone. Don't let him go anywhere alone."

"When will we hear from you again?" Paul asked.

"You will." And he closed the door with a click.

………………………………….

It was fortunate that Ginji had chosen to sleep at the table nearest the counter. He was still asleep at half-past 8. A few early customers already came and went. Paul had to cover up the blonde young man in a blanket and keep him from scrutiny.

"What are you hiding there, sir?" Natsumi asked as she came in and saw the mound under a blanket.

"I'm hiding a body," Paul answered with teasing eyes.

"Oh!" the girl fell for it, and sped off to the kitchen in a fright. Paul laughed long and hard.

At 9 am the bell clinked, and Kadzuki entered with a yawn. He too noticed the mound. "Very sound sleeper," he noted.

"Not exactly," Paul said. "Still tossing and turning, poor boy."

Natsumi waved at the newcomer but refused to budge from the kitchen door. "The……..the…………..body………sir……….it's……it's………moving!" She pointed with s shaking right hand.

"Well, it better be moving! I'd be more afraid if it wasn't!" Paul chuckled and unfolded his newspaper. "Get a cup of coffee, and eggs and toast, Natsumi."

"But, sir…….."

"Add it to their tab," he said.

Meanwhile, the string master walked to the table, and pulled off the blanket. He bent over and shouted. "WAKE UP, GINJI! You good-for-nothing spark plug!"

"I'm up, Ban-chan, I'm up!" Ginji groaned………and went back to sleep.

"Well, sounding like Ban didn't work, maybe sounding like Dr. Jackal would?" Kadzuki knit his brows. "Except that I don't know how to do a good impression………….."

"The eggs and toast are ready, sir!" Natsumi called out from the kitchen, as the smell of fresh toast and new coffee wafted out to the dining area.

"Eggs and toast!" That finally got Ginji to sit up and ruffle his hair.

"Yare-yare," Kadzuki shook his head and grinned.

Then Ginji took a good look around, saw the bright sunny day and the café clock strike the half hour past 9. "9:30? That late? OH, man…………" He still had heavy rings around his eyes, and a sad, sleepy face. It was still rather obvious that he had a rough night. He saw his friend and gave him a sad little smile. "Why didn't you wake me up, Kadzuki?" he asked with a yawn.

"You helped a lot already last night, don't worry about it," the string master said.

"Are you sure?" he asked again and smoothed down his shirt and vest – noting that something felt odd about his shirt.

"Ban can take care of himself, Ginji, you know that," his friend replied and sipped his coffee.

Ginji scratched his back for a few moments, and pulled at his shirt. He finally fished out a small, round receiver. He showed it to Kadzuki, and sighed deeply.

He then spoke into the receiver with artificial cheerfulness, "Hey, Ban-chan. I hope you're doing fine. I'm still OK, don't worry about me. But I'd like it better if you talk to me face-to-face and find that out yourself." He sent a little charge out through his index finger, and short-circuited the device.

Kadzuki grinned and waved a finger at him. "That wasn't nice, Ginji-san."

"I know," Ginji smiled back.

At the other end of the receiver, Ban growled as his earphones crackled loudly then grew silent. "Damn that idiot! That was the only way I could think of! I'll get his hide!" He punched the nearest wall, and made a dent, filling the hallway with dust.

Unfortunately, a man with a prim cap and uniform peered at him from the end of the hall. "That comes out of your paycheck, new guy!"

"Damn Ginji………" he fumed, as he swept the cement and paint on the floor.

………………………

anonymous reviewer – Making conflict was easy! No way! I never realized how much thinking I had to do when I started this story. Writing for RK comes more naturally to me than writing for GB! Hence, the LONG delay.

I still need suggestions, lots of it. Thanks for reading, I'm really sorry for the delay, and I hope you come back!